With only a single plant closure expected in 2022, the total generating loss in the U.S. attributable to nuclear energy should be relatively small this year, the Energy Information Administration forecast this week.
The planned spring shutdown of Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear Generating Station should represent around 5% of the country’s total power plant retirements in 2022, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted in an annual report published Tuesday.
The 0.8 gigawatts of power to be lost after Palisades shutters represents less than 1% of the existing nuclear fleet, EIA said.
The Covert, Mich., nuclear plant’s shutdown could be blamed on “historically low natural gas prices, limited growth in electricity demand, and increasing competition from renewable energy,” the report said.
Last year, only one nuclear plant closed, rather than the three expected. Indian Point Energy Center in New York went offline in April but Illinois’s Byron and Dresden plants, slated for closure in the fall, were saved in September by a last-minute bailout from the Illinois state government.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December approved Holtec International’s application to take ownership of the single-reactor Palisades plant from Entergy. The Camden, N.J., nuclear services company has said that it expects to finalize the transaction in June or so, after which it will decommission the plant.
